In the conventional computer/communication network, the MAC protocol is one of the most essential components if the transmission media has the broadcast type. Typical examples are wireless networks, hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) cable television networks, Ethernet and so on. Via the device with MAC protocol, the users can access the computer network and share the resource of it.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a general architecture of the conventional computer network employing MAC protocols. It includes multiple MAC nodes 1′ and a physical multi-access medium 2′. The MAC nodes 1′ can communicate with each other via the physical multi-access medium 2′. In practice, the multiple MAC nodes 1′ can be an apparatus equipped with network accessing device. And, the physical multi-access medium 2′ can be a wireless access channel, Ethernet or HFC network.
Please refer to FIG. 2, which shows the internal structure of the MAC nodes 1′. Each of the MAC nodes 1′ includes a MAC processor 11′, a transmitter/receiver circuit 12′ and a packet buffer 13′. Therein, the MAC processor 11′ can transmit/receive data packets to/from the physical multi-access medium 2′ by employing the transmitter/receiver circuit 12′. And, the packet buffer 13′ is used to store the packets from the upper layer, i.e. data link layer, or the packet received from the physical multi-access medium 2′.
However, numerous protocols have been designed for different network architectures and/or under different criteria. Therefore, there are various apparatuses for different protocols being designed. Whereas, a specific MAC apparatus only can be used for a specific MAC protocol or multi-access medium 2′, e.g. the MAC apparatus designed for Ethernet environment cannot be used in wireless local area networks (wireless LANs).
Therefore, if a user want to access the computer network via different multi-access mediums 2′, he needs to buy multiple MAC apparatuses. It is uneconomic and inconvenient for the user.
Accordingly, as discussed above, the conventional MAC apparatus obviously still has some drawbacks that could be improved. The present invention aims to resolve the drawbacks in the prior art.